Marine personnel came to the Navajo Methodist Mission School in Farmington, NM to recruit Navajo boys. I wanted to volunteer, but I was told I was too young. I was sixteen years old. My older brother Samuel was able to join, so he went ahead of me.

March 1943

On April 18th, 1943, I turned 17. My father, though reluctantly, gave me permission to enlist. Many of us left with the Marine recruiters on buses. They took us to Santa Fe for processing and then put on a train to San Diego.